1. Elevator Pitch answer the what, how and why about your product or service in 30 seconds or less, and have fun doing it (it’s infectious).
2. Think problems first, then solutions start with the problem and move forward from there - don’t start with a solution to a vague (or nonexistent) problem. When you’re explaining your idea/biz to someone, talking about the problem sets an emotional context and right away sets off ideas running around their head. Also think about a specific context they may be receptive to - do some research into their background if you can.
3. Solution: sex, $$ or power? You’d be wise to appeal to at least one of these things. All good pitches outline how it makes the customer happy, and how it’s better and different than what’s out there now - if it isn’t, change the context so you are the best in your specific niche. And talking about it isn’t enough - you need live product demos, screenshots, videos, etc.
4. Market Size top-down, from a market research company, or bottom-up, which you have calculated yourself (# users, size of transaction, frequency); or look at value of an industry offline, see how much occurs online and how fast it is growing, which demonstrates both size and the existence of a gap.
5. Business Model how you gonna make $$? Have a simple revenue model and no more than 2 revenue streams, and do something direct like subscription or transactional models.
6. Whats your big unfair advantage? team, # of customers or rate of acquisition or churn rate, revenue or intellectual property or patents.
7. Why you’re better or different than the competition It’s impt to list your competitors with strengths & weaknesses, and it’s bad if your investors know of competitors that you don’t. You could target different niches than them or target a different demographic or mkt segment.
8. Marketing plan (customers + distribution) What channels will you use to broadcast your message, and what will that message be (and why will the audience care?) Think about volume, cost and conversion rate.
9. Team hires: hustler, hacker, designer how to get customers, how to build a great product, how to frame it in an appealing way (and get people to buy). Breadth of skills is important.
10. Money and milestones Have some frame of reference for how much money you’re asking for and what you would do with it. Have S, M & L versions depending on who you’re pitching to. You just want enough capital to get to the milestone that raises the value of the company - whether that milestone be incremental or wildly ambitious. Think about overhead, hires to build the product, hires to market/sell it.
